EASTER II [C] (DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY)

Acts 5:12-16; Rev 1:9-1, 12-13,17-19; Jn 20:19-31                                                        

On October 6, 2006, an armed man entered an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He chased out the little boys and lined up the 10 little girls in front of the blackboard. He shot all of them and then killed himself. Five of the girls died. After the medics and police left, the families of the fallen came and carried their slain children home. They removed their bloody clothes and washed the bodies. They sat for a time and mourned their beloved children. After a while they walked to the home of the man who killed their children. They told his widow they forgave her husband for what he had done, and they consoled her for the loss of her spouse. They buried their anger before they buried their children. They believe in a real sense that God’s forgiveness of themselves depends on their extending forgiveness to other people. That’s what the mercy of God is all about. Today on the second Sunday of Easter we celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy.

At the canonization of St. Faustina, Pope St. John Paul II said: “The cross, even after the Resurrection of the Son of God, speaks, and never ceases to speak, of God the Father, Who is absolutely faithful to His eternal love for man. .. Believing in this love means believing in mercy."  “The Lord of Divine Mercy,” a drawing of Jesus based on the vision given to St. Faustina, shows Jesus raising his right hand in a gesture of blessing, with  his left hand on his heart from which gush forth two rays, one red and one white.  The picture contains the message, "Jesus, I trust in You!".  The rays streaming out have symbolic meaning: red for the Blood of Jesus, which is the life of souls and white for the Baptismal water which justifies souls.  The whole image is symbolic of the mercy, forgiveness and love of God. You may have a picture of divine Mercy in your homes by now, if not yours is lying at the back of the Church with your name on it. Keep the picture in an honorable place and look at it and pray every day for God’s mercy on you and your family.

The readings for this Sunday are about mercy, trust and the forgiveness of sins.   In the Responsorial Psalm, we repeat several times, "His mercy endures forever" (Ps 118).  Besides mentioning the word, our readings illustrate mercy in action. How does God reveal His mercy?  He does so, first and foremost, by sending His only-begotten Son to become our Savior and Lord by his suffering, death and Resurrection. When Jesus appears to the disciples, he shows them his hands and his side. He shows them the wounds of his crucifixion. His wounds are his identity card. They shout out to us that God’s mercy is more powerful than death.   

Divine Mercy is given to us in the celebration of the Sacraments.  The first reading explains how the Risen Lord continued to show His Divine Mercy to the sick through the healing and preaching ministry of His apostles in the early Church. 

The Risen Lord gives the apostles the authority to forgive sins in His Name.  "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained" (Jn 20-23).  He gives the apostles the power of imparting God’s mercy to the sinner, the gift of forgiving sins from God’s treasury of mercy.   In the liturgy, the Church has proclaimed the mercy of God for centuries through the Word of God and the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.  The Gospel text also reminds us that the clearest way of expressing our belief in the presence of the Risen Jesus among us is through our own forgiveness of others. We can’t form a lasting Christian community without such forgiveness.  Unless we forgive others, our celebration of the Eucharist is just an exercise in liturgical rubrics.

One way the Church celebrates God’s mercy throughout the year is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Finding time for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is another good way to receive Divine Mercy.  The Gospel command, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful," demands that we show mercy to our fellow human beings always and everywhere.  We radiate God's mercy to others by our actions, our words, and our prayers.  It is mainly through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy that we practice mercy in our daily lives and become eligible for God’s merciful judgment. Mercy is when’s God love meets our brokenness. As Pope Francis, paraphrasing Pope Benedict XVI, once said, “The name of God is mercy.” And the wounds of Christ, visible for all eternity, are the vivid reminder of God’s mercy.

Mercy of God on the estranged human race brought peace and reconciliation to the world. “Peace” is the first word that came from the lips of Jesus on meeting his Apostles. “Peace be with you. (Jn 20:19). Then Jesus gave them the power to forgive sins. As sin destroys internal peace Jesus strictly commanded his disciples to love their enemies, and to return good for evil (Mt 5:44). Jesus ratified his teaching with his own example as he hung on the cross. He prayed, “Father forgive them” (Lk 23:24).

Today the risen Lord stands in our midst and greets us too, “Peace be with You.” Let’s translate this message into action and pass on to our brothers and sisters. When you take initiative in patching up an estranged relationship with your friend, when you forgive a dishonest act of your friend, when you show kindness to someone, when you appease the anger of your friend, when you find time to re-establish a broken relationship, when you persuade someone to give up some evil habits you are giving the message, “Peace be with you”. And the peace that you radiate will come back to you manifold.